Please excuse the lack of photos in some of my older posts as I am trying to slowly go back through and add the photos that were accidentally deleted

July 20, 2012

Restaurant Review: The Summit Restaurant at Cincinnati State

You guys know I love deals, right? That's how we dine out!

Awhile back I purchased a half off deal to The Summit Restaurant at the Midwest Culinary Institute at Cincinnati State. They serve dinner every Thursday evening through Saturday evening. I was intrigued because I have such an interest in the culinary world and would love to go back and get my degree in it... hmm, I'll have to keep Cincinnati State in mind for that.

We entered the one floor
restaurant inside Cincinnati State. To your left is the bar area, and to
the right is the dining seating area. We headed to the right.

Sorry for the blurry shot but here is a little look at the dining area. Blue walls. Large tables... no booths from what I could tell.

A distant shot of the bar area.

Let's start with a margarita ($8), eh? I loved my margarita but when don't I? It was a bit small
though. See tiny glass below? Sometimes I can get margaritas in a bigger glass for the same
price. I'd
like to know what those little green specks of herbs or spices were so I can make my homemade margaritas like that.

Dr. Peppers were only $1 each but didn't taste very good because they were watered down. The complimentary sourdough bread was served with a sweet butter... I don't like sourdough but I liked the butter. They didn't bring the bread though until
well into our meal. What's that about?

The
students themselves prepare the food. I love it because I get to see
what they are learning, techniques, the kind of food they are learning
to prepare, and more. Our waitress was the nicest woman I have ever had
serve me. I am all about customer service so they instantly won brownie
points in my eyes. She didn't keep up on PJ's refills, though, but her
kindness made up for it.

Nothing on the first course/appetizer menu caught our eye. Probably because we didn't know what much of it was! So on to the entrees we went.

We both ordered the Grilled Filet of Beef “Oscar” ($27 each), atop a red wine demi glace,
with root vegetables and roasted potatoes in a green sauce that may have been parsley or pesto based. You would think I would know from the taste because parsley and pesto do not taste the same lol. But I don't remember. My filet was nicely cooked and the bearnaise sauce
tasted homemade and was delicious! The root vegetables were tender and were delicious with the sauce.
PJ said his steak was too salty, but what does he know? :) The crab was a little too fishy for him, too. He must have been picky that day. The potatoes
were not cooked enough... they were the consistency of potatoes used in
potato salad, which is why I never like potato salad either. But the
sauce served on them was good, and I did dip them in some of the demi
glace as well which amped them up even more.

For dessert, we ordered the Bananas Foster, which was flambeed and served tableside. Look at that fire! We each got our own, for only $10!

PJ is smart and asked for ours with ice cream. I knew I loved that boy for something!

Delicious as expected.

They gave us a chocolate truffle to take home too, which was thoughtful, even though I didn't really like it.

Elevator shot on the way out!

Oh, and they have complimentary valet parking. Gotta love that. Just pull on up and they'll take care of the rest. Tip them of course, though, please :)